Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2020

Notes:
As a part of the USD 10 million commitment of Google to media literacy, the tech-major recently announced a $1 million grant for a non-profit news literacy organisation called Internews. The fund has been launched by Google News Initiative (GNI), to counter fake news and misinformation in India by building a strong network of senior reporters and journalists. The initiative aims to conduct workshops and camps in Indian cities to inculcate news literacy and avoid fake online information.

Notes:
The state government of Punjab recently declared to ban all types of online lottery schemes in the state. The ban of lottery schemes has been made under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998.
This step is expected to curb illegal lottery business in the state and to boost the tax and non-tax revenue of the state government. The Cabinet also approved to prohibit the sale of online lotteries, operated through vending machines and online scheme tickets, promoted by other states.

Notes:
The wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, Alliance Air recently commenced the direct flight operations from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi. The daily flight operation is started under the RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik).
This route also marks the 250th route which has been made operational under the RCS – UDAN. This is also the 58th route commenced by Alliance Air, under RCS. Recently, the airline started daily flight operations on the Kolkata-Jharsuguda route. The flight is scheduled to depart Bhubaneswar at 12.15 pm and reach Varanasi at 2.05 pm while the flight from Varanasi will leave at 2.30 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 4.20 pm.

Notes:
The historic infrared space telescope, called the Spitzer Space Telescope, which was launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was recently decommissioned.
The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in 2003 for a two-and-a-half-year mission. But it has been deployed for more than 16 years in various missions to gather valuable data. The decision was made to shut down the Spitzer mission as the space agency begins the mission of the next great infrared space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to be launched before July 2021.

Notes:
Indian Public sector bank, Bank of Baroda recently signed an MoU with Indian credit rating agency, Care Ratings. The pact aims to assess credit quality of the small and medium enterprises (SME) customers of the bank.
The rating agency is expected to evaluate the credit quality of the existing and potential SME customers of the bank. The creditworthiness of enterprises is provided on an eight-point scale by the ratings agency. This agreement will strengthen the process of loan-evaluation and help the SMEs in obtaining finance faster.

Notes:
Pakistan has recently witnessed its worst locust attack ever in decades and has declared national emergency for tackling their attack. The insects are reported to have destroyed crops on a large scale in Punjab, the main agricultural region of the country. The swarms of locust are currently found on the Pakistan-India border along Cholistan.
The decision to declare national emergency was taken at a meeting convened by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. A National Action Plan (NAP) was also approved, which requires a sum of ₹7.3 billion to tackle the crisis. Somalia has also declared national emergency for the same reason, recently.

Notes:
The Indian Navy has conducted a five-day-long coastal security exercise called ‘Matla Abhiyaan’ at Kolkata, which started on 29 January. The exercise is named after the Matla river, which flows around the Sundarbans.
The exercise aims at interacting with coastal communities to spread awareness on coastal security. During the exercise, the naval personnel interacted with the coastal police stations. The naval team also visited local schools to spread awareness on coastal security. This exercise is expected to help the naval crew in understand the navigational complexities in the Sundarbans.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation is set to conduct the second session of its Young Scientist Programme for school children called Yuva Vigyani Karyakram (YUVIKA).
The programme which was first launched in 2019 by ISRO, aims to inculcate the school children about space theories and technologies. This initiative is expected to promote awareness among the children in space related activities. The online registration for this year’s programme has recently begun, as per the announcement from ISRO.

Notes:
The state Government of Kerala declared the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as a “state calamity”. This declaration comes at the backdrop of three people of the state being tested positive for coronavirus.
Kerala reported the first infection from the virus in India and the person is being treated in isolation wards. Later two other patients, who are the students of a medical college in Wuhan, China are also diagnosed with the virus infection. The novel coronavirus was first reported in China’s Wuhan city and has spread to nearly 25 other countries.

Notes:
Ace Indian weight-lifter, Mirabai Chanu set a new national record in the National Weightlifting Championships in Kolkata, by improving her previous record. The former world champion and common wealth gold medallist belongs to the state of Manipur.
Mirabai lifted a total of 203kg to win the 49kg gold, which was better than her previous best- 201 kg, which she had achieved at the World Championships at Thailand, in September last year. The 25-year-old weight-lifter was placed fourth in the world rankings. Jeremy Lalrinnunga, another top weight-lifter from India won the men’s 67kg title in the Championship.